Reflection 4: theories in action-trait theory

Weekly Reflection 4
Theories in Action- Trait Theory

At Pippi House, I hypothesize that trait theory is at play. Specifically, I think that the ones who are more extraverted and open emerge as leaders at least in terms of interactions with the volunteers. Many of the women are shy and reserved (at least around me) which could be for many different reasons. The women have ended up at Pippi House for a number of different reasons, but the bottom line is that they can’t live at their homes with their families. In addition, there is a large language barrier that prevents some of the girls to approaching and/or connecting with me, a native English speaker. The women that are especially outgoing or that approach me first are the ones that I perceive as leaders within the whole group of women. They are also typically the older ones and the ones that are the best at English. We have started a weekly sexual health/relationships seminar, and we rely on these same women to translate back and forth between us and the girls who don’t understand English as well. These girls are the ones that the others look to for advice and guidance, and they seem to have a lot of sway with Aristides as well. They have built up idiosyncrasy credits within their group, so they have a lot of influence over the other members and they exert leadership behaviors as well. For example, there is one woman by the name of Zuhura, and she came up to me on one of my first days and told me that she wants to learn better English from me. She seems very intelligent and has been able to remember the majority of the words that I have taught her. She definitely has remembered more English words than any of her peers that I have tried to work with. She emerges as a leader of the group to me because when she talks, other girls listen and do what she says. She also initiates activities in Pippi House. For example, she will announce that she wants to learn English or learn how to dance, and everyone will gather round for the lesson accordingly. In such a large organization like Pippi House, I think it is advantageous to have informal leaders like Zuhura because Aristides can’t manage everything on his own. If he can rely on a few trusted and intelligent women that the younger and shyer ones trust, the group functions much more smoothly. There seem to be some women that feel more comfortable coming into Aristides’ office than others, and this can also affect who gets influence. He has the ultimate say in things that happen at Pippi House, so if a girl feels open to speaking to him and they are extraverted, they may have advantages. I think it would be beneficial if we work especially hard with these informal leaders of the group, because we don’t have enough time to work individually with each girl, but there might be trickle down effects if they then turn around and teach the other girls some of the things that we teach them. Focusing our resources on girls who display leadership traits will hopefully facilitate the learning of all the girls at Pippi House because they are more comfortable with the women who already live with them and who they trust.